Design and Simulation of Rail Vehicles

Understanding critical rail vehicle design issues and associated dynamic responses is fundamental to guaranteeing safe and cost-effective operations of modern railways. The increasing demands for safer rail vehicles with higher speed and higher loads, requires a better understanding of the factors that affect their dynamic performance. This text covers the advanced simulation techniques that allow such innovations to be examined in detail and optimized before the costly process of introducing them into the operational vehicle environment on a rail network.

Keep Up with Advancements in the Field of Rail Vehicle Design

A thorough understanding of the issues that affect dynamic performance, as well as more inventive methods for controlling rail vehicle dynamics, is needed to meet the demands for safer rail vehicles with higher speed and loads. Design and Simulation of Rail Vehicles examines the field of rail vehicle design, maintenance, and modification, as well as performance issues related to these types of vehicles. This text analyzes rail vehicle design issues and dynamic responses, describes the design and features of rail vehicles, and introduces methods that address the operational conditions of this complex system.

Focused on both non-powered and powered rail vehicles—freight and passenger rolling stock, locomotives, and self-powered vehicles used for public transport—this book introduces the problems involved in designing and modeling all types of rail vehicles. It explores the applications of vehicle dynamics, train operations, and track infrastructure maintenance. It introduces the fundamentals of locomotive design, multibody dynamics, and longitudinal train dynamics, and discusses co-simulation techniques. It also highlights recent advances in rail vehicle design, and contains applicable standards and acceptance tests from around the world.

• Includes multidisciplinary simulation approaches

• Contains an understanding of rail vehicle design and simulation techniques

• Establishes the connection between theory and many simulation examples

• Presents simple to advanced rail vehicle design and simulation methodologies

Design and Simulation of Rail Vehicles serves as an introductory text for graduate or senior undergraduate students, and as a reference for practicing engineers and researchers investigating performance issues related to these types of vehicles.